Journal
PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
Volume 109, Issue 4, Pages 1154-1158Publisher
NATL ACAD SCIENCES
DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1114199109
Keywords
plant carnivory; plant nutrient acquisition; campos rupestres; nitrogen; stable isotopes
Categories
Funding
- Fundacao de Amparo a Pesquisa do Estado de Sao Paulo
- Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Cientifico e Tecnologico [CNPq 474670/2008-2]
- National Science Foundation [DEB-0126631, 0717711]
- Universidade Estadual de Campinas
- Universidade de Sao Paulo
- Direct For Biological Sciences
- Division Of Environmental Biology [0717711] Funding Source: National Science Foundation
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The recently described genus Philcoxia comprises three species restricted to well lit and low-nutrient soils in the Brazilian Cerrado. The morphological and habitat similarities of Philcoxia to those of some carnivorous plants, along with recent observations of nematodes over its subterranean leaves, prompted the suggestion that the genus is carnivorous. Here we report compelling evidence of carnivory in Philcoxia of the Plantaginaceae, a family in which no carnivorous members are otherwise known. We also document both a unique capturing strategy for carnivorous plants and a case of a plant that traps and digests nematodes with underground adhesive leaves. Our findings illustrate how much can still be discovered about the origin, distribution, and frequency of the carnivorous syndrome in angiosperms and, more generally, about the diversity of nutrient-acquisition mechanisms that have evolved in plants growing in severely nutrient-impoverished environments such as the Brazilian Cerrado, one of the world's 34 biodiversity hotspots.
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